Time Running Out To Register For 2012 Election

If you're not registered to vote in this upcoming critical national election, better get busy because the deadlines to do so in many areas happen this week.   For my Texas TransGriot readers you have until October 9 to do so.   You can also bumrush the polls starting October 22 in Texas secure in the knowledge that all you'll need to present at the polls to do so is your yellow Texas voter registration card.

The Texas Voter ID suppression law has been spiked thanks to federal judges and Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  

And naw Texas (and national) Rethuglican party, haven't forgotten which party stood up to defend my right to vote and which one is hellbent on keep me from doing so and will be voting accordingly..

Political revenge is best served up in the ballot box on Election Day.


I'll even make it easy for you by just clicking on this link that will take you to the NAACP's This Is My Vote website or you can call 1-866-MyVote1  

You can also call that number to report any voter suppression shenanigans of the predominately white True The Vote 'poll watching' thugs behaving badly in our non white precincts. 

So get busy and get registered.  October 22 will be here before you know it (or whenever early voting starts in your locale) so you can handle your civic business and choose your leaders for the next two to four years at all levels of government and have you say on some important ballot questions, bond issues and constitutional amendments

Happy Twentywhatever Birthday Isis!

It's October 1st and I wasn't going to let today slide by without a TransGriot Happy Birthday shout-out to my twentysomething little sis in the Big Apple.  Sorry we missed connecting while I was up there, but I know it'll happen sooner or later.

I remember I wrote in my open letter to you back in 2008:

"Your confidence will grow as you learn who Isis is, get comfortable with your body and figure out what type of woman you want to project to the world. As you work through that ongoing process, you will eventually get to the point in which you feel as strong, sexy, beautiful and confident as the Egyptian queen you chose to name yourself after."

It's four years later and you have fulfilled that prediction I made for you at that time and then some.  You represent #girlslikeus with class, dignity and a regal style and I'm so proud of you for that.  

And yep, I really enjoy those moments when we get the chance to talk.  Need to do more of it when both our busy schedules allow it.

Happy birthday Isis!   May your special day be a wonderful one filled with abundant blessings, and may you have many more!
 

This 2012 Election Is STILL About The Supreme Court

As much as the pundits will try to make this election about the economy, I submit this election is about a far more important factor the media pundits aren't talking about in terms of the Supreme Court.

I bring this subject up because in a few hours another term of our nation's highest judiciary body starts and runs through June 2013.   Just as in the last term, there will be some contentious subjects such as Section V of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, same gender marriage, Prop 8 and affirmative action that come up to be argued in front of the 5-4 conservative leaning Roberts Court.

It hasn't escaped my attention that there are four justices who are over 70 years of age.  Clinton appointed Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (77) and Stephen Breyer (71) are past that age on the liberal progressive side.

Reagan appointed Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy (73) is a predominately right leaning swing vote, and reliably conservative Antonin Scalia is 74.    

The next president (and I pray it's a second term President Obama) could possibly get to appoint three and possibly four Supreme Court justices during his next term  and shape the direction and political orientation of it for the next thirty to 40 years.  

For you people who claim there's no difference between the two parties, nowhere does your rhetoric look more delusional and politically clueless than when it comes to what person is in the Oval Office picking Supreme Court justices and judges for the federal judiciary.

The last thing I want is a President Romney (yecch) advised by Robert Bork picking those justices.


I would rather have it continue in the liberal-progressive direction of being diversified as the trend has been under President Obama.  

We have already seen President Obama's first two picks be women in terms of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. 

I'd also like to remind people there has never been an African-American woman, an Asian of any gender, a Latino male or a Native American jurist of any gender selected to serve on the SCOTUS.

As a matter of fact President Obama's judiciary picks have been leaning heavily towards women and persons of color.   He has had appointed and confirmed a record 72 women to the federal judiciary in his first term with 29 of those women being non-white ones.   31 of President Obama's judicial picks were African-American, three were openly gay and there is no reason to doubt that pattern won't continue in a second Obama term

With a gridlocked Congress, the federal judiciary will become more important to advancing our human rights agenda.  With 90 federal judicial vacancies and four potential ones at the Supreme Court level diversity in the federal judiciary not only improves the quality of the decisions rendered by federal courts, it's a trend I want to see continue.

It's not only about the economy stupid, it's about the federal judiciary. and especially the political orientation the Supreme Court will take for the people in my generation for the rest of our lives.

Ponder that point as you enter the voting booth on November 6 or whenever during this month you get to cast your early voting ballots.

2012 Texans Watch- 4-0!

In the 30 plus year the Team Formerly Known as the Houston Oilers played inside Loop 610 they never started a season better than 2-0. 

There was the 1993 season when they started the season 0-4 and reeled off twelve consecutive wins to capture the AFC Central Division title and home field throughout the AFC playoffs.

Then they lost to Kansas City in their opening home playoff game. .  

The Titans and Bud Adams are Nashville's problem now, and the Houston NFL team I root for wears deep steel blue instead of columbia blue.

After two consecutive road games the Texans returned to Reliant Stadium wearing those deep steel blue uniforms and trampled the Tennessee Titans Traitors.  

The Bulls on Parade not only knocked Tennessee QB Jake Locker out of the game on the opening series after turning him into a quarterback sandwich, but had two pick sixes by Kareem Jackson and Danieal Manning to turn a 14-7 nail biter into a 38-14 win.

JJ Watt added two sacks and a fumble recovery to this dominating showing by the Texans defense to help the Boys in Deep Steel Blue remain the only unbeaten team in the AFC and win another division game.

Their schedule toughens up a bit over the next three weeks before they get their bye week.  Next up is the Monday night clash at MetLife Stadium against the New York Jets, then consecutive home games at reliant Stadium against the Green Bay Packers and a rematch of the AFC Divisional round playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens. .

But they accomplished the mission we Texans fans wanted for them today in beating the Tennessee Traitors. 
  

WFPL-FM 'Strange Fruit' Show Premieres

I'd heard this show was in the works, but WFPL-FM 89.3, Louisville's public access radio station is kicking off a brand new podcast radio show dedicated to the issues facing the local community.

It's entitled Strange Fruit: Musings on Politics, Pop Culture and Black Gay Life  (after the Billie Holiday song) and features as its hosts two of my fave people in my other hometown in Dr. Kaila A Story and Jaison Gardner.  And yes, in the interest of journalistic integrity 'Nephew' Jaison refers to me as Auntie Monica..

But back to the post. 

The first episode is entitled, "Does Your Mama Know?" and looks at the coming out process for LGBT people of color.  They started a roundtable discussion with young people who have come out to their families, talked to some mamas about their reactions to their children coming out, then had a conversation with Lisa C. Moore, editor of Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories.   

You can keep up with what's happening on Strange Fruit via Facebook and Twitter, and the show's hosts  enthusiastically welcome your feedback.  They post a new podcast episode each Saturday; so stay tuned.

I know I definitely plan on doing so, and congratulations Dr. K and 'Nephew'.   May your show be a major success.

2012 UH Cougar Watch-Great Time For First Win

My fave college football team got their 2012 college football season off to a rocky start with a 30-13 upset loss to Texas State at Robertson Stadium.  

It got worse for UH on September 8 in a 56-49 shootout loss to Louisiana Tech to drop them to 0-2.

They were also battling the injury bug as they traveled to Pasadena,.CA to get spanked 37-7 by UCLA on September 15 to drop their record to 0-3 .

But the good news was they hadn't started conference play yet.   In addition to going through their bye week and getting healthy they would start and would start C-USA play against our crosstown rivals at Rice. 

Our campuses are separated by seven miles and this is the Coogs last season in C-USA before they move to the Big East next year.   This would be the last conference football game that we would play against the Owls and the Bayou Bucket and Houston bragging rights were also on the line at Reliant Stadium. 

Good thing since its been raining intermittently all day. 

The Coogs rolled to a 35-14 win versus the Owls thanks to Charles Sims rolling up 158 years on 24 carries and scoring three touchdowns to help keep the Bayou Bucket where it belongs on Cullen Blvd. for the second straight year.   It also gave us our first win of the season and most importantly made the Cougars 1-0 in C-USA West Division play

The Cougars get North Texas on Saturday at Robertson Stadium in their last non conference game of the season before they tackle the rest of their C-USA schedule.


Eat 'em up!   .You finally got that first win of the season. 

Same Conservacrap, Different Democratic President

If you think that President Obama being called a 'communist', 'socialist' or whatever epithet du jour by 'white' wingers is something 21st century that the conservafools have conjured up, note the circa 1968 protester and what they are calling President Lyndon B. Johnson in this photo.

Does this rant look familiar?  And you thought studying history was a waste of your precious class time.

This is a small sample of what Jorge Santayana was talking about when he uttered his classic comment 'those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it'.

Right wingers have flung the 'communist' or 'socialist' tag at not only President Obama, but LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.  If you hit Google you'll find a few posters that already have current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pre-slimed with it as well.

Same conservacrap, different US president.

Secretly Serving-The Few The Proud, The Trans

While the LGB community was celebrating the first anniversary of DADT repeal, transgender people in the US military are still serving in secret. 

Marc Lamont Hill talks to trans veterans and a trans person still serving our country and having to hide to do so.   The trans veterans get to talk about their post service lives.    

Samuel L. Jackson Wake The F&@k Up Ad

I've been trying to say it on this blog in a more diplomatic fashion to you misguided people who claim there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. 

Yes, there most certainly is, and it's time for y'all to wake up to that reality.  .  

Samuel L. Jackson in this NSFW ad just tells it like it T-I-S is in terms of how critical this November 6 election is to our country.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Alexander John Goodrum Memorial Edition

Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of pioneering trans man Alexander John Goodrum.   It's hard to believe that ten years has passed since I heard that shocking news of his passing mere days before his October 3 birthday.  He is still missed by all of us who had the pleasure of getting to know him and we trans folks should not ever forget his major contributions to our community and to the advancement of human rights in the LGBT community.

It's also Friday, so let's move on to our usual TransGriot business of calling out the ignorance and stupidity rampant in our society.

I'll get right to our weekly Shut Up Fool Award business.

Honorable mention number one this week was 2012 Shut Up Fool of the Year contender Mitt Romney.   That award will be revealed on New Year's Eve   

Honorable mention number two goes to Ann Coulter.   Had to pull her out of retirement for her jacked up racist commentary this week.

Honorable mention number three goes to Rep. Looney Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who opened his mouth and embarrassed the state and his constituents by claiming President Obama’s foreign policy in the Middle East was “a massive beginning of a new Ottoman Empire that [he] can take great credit for.”




Louie, you can take 'great credit' for being a continuing embarrassement to the state of Texas and our once proud tradition of sending leaders to Washington DC who were statesmen and stateswomen and not buffoons.

I'm just sayin'. 

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is Rep. Todd 'Legitimate Rape' Akin (R-MO).   When he's not campaigning with Phyllis Schafly in order to get the 'women's vote' in his campaign for Missouri's senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), advocating to kill student loans, Medicare, et cetera, this knuckle dragging MCP (male chauvinist pig) asserts that Sen McCaskill was 'unladylike' and aggressive' in their first senate debate.

Yeah, right.  You really need to quit while you're behind, Todd.  You've already demonstrated just how misogynistic you are and written legislation to prove it. 

And as one of my FB friends Alyssa said,  "No reason to be ladylike if the man next to you is no gentleman."

Rep. Todd Akin, Shut Up, Fool!.

Gloria Steinem-Transphobe

You long time TransGriot readers know I'm not a feminist and I cringe when I hear Black women even say the term because of its history of marginalizing women of color to the point they left the movement.

And don't even get me started on its outright hostility to trans women, which is why I identify as a womanist.

And yes, it's time to unmask another one of the feminist icons, Gloria Steinem as a transphobe. 

She not only wrote some foul stuff centered on Renee Richards in 1977 when hating on transwomen was par for the feminist course, but in the 1983 book Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions that was recently republished.

But before I get to the transphobic 1983 scribblings, here's what she said then about Renee Richards and transpeople in general.  It was also in reaction at the time to comments that characterized the Richards saga as "a frightening instance of what feminism could lead to" or as "living proof that feminism isn't necessary."  

Steinem wrote at the time, "At a minimum, it was a diversion from the widespread problems of sexual inequality." She writes that, while she supports the right of individuals to identify as they choose, she claims that, in many cases, transsexuals "surgically mutilate their own bodies" in order to conform to a gender role that is inexorably tied to physical body parts. She concludes that "feminists are right to feel uncomfortable about the need for and uses of transsexualism."

She then concluded the transphobic article with the quote: "If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?

Moving on to the Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions in which pages 224-228 of it contains a five page essay on trans identities in which she cited Janice Raymond and her odious 1979 waste of trees The Transsexual Empire in it several times. 

Let's start with these transphobic gems.   On page 226 of the book:

Was it fair for women to face someone trained physically and culturally for forty years as a man?

On page 227 Steinem pulls out the 'mutilation' card:

In other words, transsexuals are paying an extreme tribute to the power of sex roles. In order to set their real human personalities free, they surgically mutilate their own bodies...

And ho hum, here we go again with the tired 'waste of medical resources' meme as she gives a shout out to Janice Raymond:

Instead of serving more lifesaving but often less lucrative needs for their surgical and hormone-therapy skills, some physicians are aiding individuals who are desperately trying to conform to an unjust society. It’s a small group of successful physicians she [Janice Raymond] names ‘the transsexual empire’.

So if you wonder why I have such a low regard for feminism no matter what wave it is in or have eye roll inducing suspicion of trans feminism, it's because of transphobic scribblings like this from a long list of white feminists and trans feminists like Chelsea Sayre who spend more time apologizing for the TERF's than calling them out for their nekulturny behavior.   

Discovering feminist icon Gloria Steinem shared those anti-trans sentiments, combined with feminism's appalling silence over the fact that their poison pens and the anti-trans sentiments they stoked have caused deleterious real world effects in the lives of trans women only adds to my distaste of feminism.

Alexander Goodrum-Gone Ten Years

I'd been in Louisville just over a year on this date when Dawn told me the shocking news that Alexander John Goodrum was dead a few days short of his 42nd birthday on October 3.  

I had the sincere pleasure of meeting him during the 1999 Creating Change conference that took place in Oakland, and it was one of the first times since becoming a national activist I'd met one of our African-descended trans brothers and had a chance to talk about trans life and issues from their perspective. 

Alexander was a Chicago native and had been an activist in GLBT organizing and social justice issues since 1980 in Chicago, San Francisco and after moving there in 1996 in Tucson.   He'd been doing some trailblazing work for the trans human rights community and he was one of my early role models.  He was also one of the first people I met who identified with the bi end of it.

In addition to being a dynamic speaker, Goodrum also founded TGNet Arizona, was a board member on the Tucson GLBT Commission, and the Funding Exchange's OUT Fund, which allocates an annual grant named after Goodrum to LGBT community organizing projects.

Goodrum was instrumental in getting Tuscon to include gender identity in their non discrimination law in 1999, and wrote this paper that appears on the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA)  website entitled Gender Identity 101-A Transgender Primer  

But what I and many folks in the national community didn't know about Alexander was he was dealing with some major personal issues that would unfortunately drive him to take his life on the morning of Saturday, September 28, 2002 while under observation at La Frontera Psychiatric Hospital in Tucson.

I couldn't make it to that October 5 memorial service that day, but there isn't a time when I don't think about that handsome smiling guy I met in Oakland that people called 'Bear' and wonder where our community would be on our human rights march if he were still around. 

It's been ten years since his untimely passing, and I definitely want to make sure we never forget this African descended trans man who was a major player in our Black trans history 

2nd Annual Black Transmen,Inc Conference Coming Soon

I was pleased to hear about the first one when it occurred earlier this year in Dallas with Rev. Louis Mitchell doing an inspiring keynote address for it.  The 2013 event not only has a date but a bigger hotel close to the DART light rail lines to help you get around Big D and experience what the city has to offer.  

Save the date because the transbrothers are getting together on the other end of I-45 for their 2nd Annual Black Transmen,.Inc Transgender Advocacy Conference and Dinner in Dallas.  

For the second year in a row the transbrothers are planning a conference as big as the Lone Star State from March 13-March 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Dallas - Campbell Centre .   Had some scheduling conflicts that kept me from attending the initial one (and was pissed about it)  but will do my best to keep the calendar open and clear for that weekend.

But I'll let my transbrothers toot their own horns about this fast growing and sure to be well attended event.

***.
 
Welcome to Our 2nd Annual Black Transmen, Inc Transgender Advocacy Conference! We are anxious to meet you in Dallas, Texas once again for an amazing and life changing experience. We would like to extend a special invitation and welcome to our sister group Black Transwomen and look forward to building with you as well. This is our time to meet, unite, discuss, learn and celebrate.

Plan for an event of a life time for couples, youth, singles, families and allies to transmen and the SLGBTQIH community worldwide. "Become the change you want to see in the world"

General Conference Information:

(4) Day Empowerment Event Schedule. Featured Topics on: Identity, Culture, Religion, Family, Health, Wealth, Careers, Education, Business, Legal, Community and Youth Services
Registration: http://blacktransadvocacy2013.eventbrite.com/

Conference Tracks:

Black Transmen, Inc Leadership Training (staff only)
SLGBTQHI Alliance & Community Training
Trans Health Fair & HIV/AIDS Education, Prevention and Testing
Trans Career Services & Job Fair
Trans Youth Seminar
Transmen Seminar
Transwomen Seminar
Trans Aging Adult Seminar
Spouses Seminar

Conference Events:

Annual Black Transmen, Inc Awards Dinner Ball (Formal Attire)
For Men: www.menswearhouse.com
TransManifest- Live! Performances from the SLGBTQ community.
Black Transmen, Inc Mini Ball featuring* All Trans Categories*
Pre & Post Conference Events will also be scheduled
More Events Will Be Posted!

Travel Discount Information:

Our Host Hotel $89 Night! Double Tree: Code BTA
http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/groups/personalized/D/DFWCNDT-BTA-20130313/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG
American Airlines: Code A6733DE www.aa.com
Avis: Code D256983 www.avis.com
Amtrak: Code X79L-957 www.amtrak.com
Get on the Bus: Enjoy A Bus ride from your local area! Contact us to be added to the list.

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 4

I compiled a 9-7 record in Week 3 in the wake of the 8-8 Week 2 one, but it was enough to allow me to take a four game lead over Mr. Watts thanks to a disastrous and uncharacteristic 5-11 week for him courtesy of upsets and the egregiously blown call on the last play of the Green Bay-Seattle game that still has the Cheeseheads righteously pissed off.  

I wasn't happy about it either since I had Green Bay winning that game in the Pacific Northwest and I would have finished 10-6 for the week

But I'm looking at the half full part of my 2012 NFL prognostication contest glass.  I've been at or above .500 for the first three weeks and it has resulted in me leading this 2012 contest of NFL prognostication wits for the first time this season.  I'm also deliriously happy about my Texans handling their Denver business trip and as a result are now 3-0 and off to their best start in franchise history.

They play the Tennessee Titans Traitors this week at Reliant in their attempt to start 4-0 for the first time in franchise history  

The photo of longtime NFL official Mike Carey is my way of saying, hallelujah, no more replacement refs!   The jacked up ending to Monday's prime time game forced the NFL to finally handle their business and sign a new eight year deal with the NFL Referee's Association.  The real refs like Mr. Carey will be back in action starting with tonight's Browns-Ravens game.  

And after a honeymoon period from us NFL fans glad the officials are back, we'll probably be shouting stuff at them like the Ravens fans did when they blow their first call of the season. 



We are now one quarter of the way into the 2012 regular season and we get our first two teams with bye weeks in the Colts and Steelers.  They have a lot to think about with their 1-2 records as they relax and watch 'errbody' else play games.    The Colts are probably shocked and deliriously happy to be 1-2.   The Steelers probably aren't since they are supposed to be contending for the AFC North crown.


We move into NFL Week 4 and it's time for me to build on this lead and achieve my goal of winning this prognostication contest at the end of this season.  These are Mike's Week 4 picks.  Mine are in underscored bold print.


Last Week's records
TransGriot    9-7
Mike Watts  5-11
 
2012 Season Records
TransGriot    27-21
Mike Watts   23-25

Week 4
Bye week
Colts, Steelers

Thursday, September 27
Browns at Ravens

Sunday, September 30
Noon CDT Games

Titans at Texans
Patriots at Bills

Chargers at Chiefs
Vikings at Lions
Panthers at Falcons
Seahawks at Rams
49ers at Jets

Afternoon Games 
Dolphins at Cardinals
Raiders at Broncos
Bengals at Jaguars
Saints at Packers
Redskins at Buccaneers

Sunday Night
Giants at Eagles

Monday, October 1
Bears at Cowboys

Scandal Season 2 Starts Tonight!

Y'all know how much I love Kerry Washington, and I'm looking forward to the start of the second season of the Shonda Rhimes produced ABC show Scandal starting at 9 PM CDT.

I also like Columbus Short and his character Harrison, too.

It cranks up tonight and picks up where it left off from that Season One ending cliffhanger episode.  It lets us know who Quinn Perkins really is, delves into her backstory and begins to answer the questions of what's up with Olivia and POTUS Fitz, how sprung is he over her (and vice versa) and is the FLOTUS actually pregnant?  

It'lll be interesting to see what clients and cases pop up requiring the special PR skills of Olivia and her team.  So yep, it's going to be another interesting season at Olivia C. Pope & Associates.

Want Fries With That Transphobic Hate Crime?

Can we trans women have a day in which somebody is not fracking with either us or the people who give a damn about us?  

Guess that's too much to ask.

The latest incident of cis haters gone wild happened in New York's Greenwich Village gayborhood at a McDonald's at 136 W. Third Street on September 19 to a transwoman and her boyfriend.

That particular Mickey D's has been plagued by some recent disturbing incidents including a patron badly beaten up in March 2011 because someone didn't like his pink tennis shoelaces.

Jamar McLeod, 24, told the NY Daily News he and his girlfriend, 22 year old Jalisa “JoJo” Griffen had just picked up her hormone medicine Wednesday night and were headed back to their apartment in Bushwick when they headed into the fast food restaurant on W. Third St. around 7 PM EDT to grab something to eat and use the bathroom

While in line McLeod got into a conversation with Griffen about how people were being attacked just for being gay.  He was overheard by their 350 pound tormentor Keith Patron, who butted into their conversation and started hurling homophobic slurs at the couple punctuated with '"I can't stand gay people."

McLeod implored him to leave it alone, but the bully from the Bronx escalated the verbal abuse when Griffen headed to the ladies bathroom.  Patron said she needed to 'use the men's room', kept up the homophobic and transphobic slurs and threatened to beat her up.  McLeod told him that wasn't happening, and he wasn't touching his girlfriend without going through him first.  

They ended up outside the restaurant and after ducking a swing from the McHater McLeod proceeded to give the transphobic bully a proper beatdown complete with a knee to the groin and a punch to the face. 

That's when the 44 year old Patron pulled out a razor and slashed McLeod on the elbow, neck and face.  He was treated at Bellevue Hospital and released but unfortunately the scars from the unprovoked attack will be permanent ones.  

Patron was arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime.  He's being held in jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond and hopefully justice will prevail in this case.

But once again, it's a situation occurring in which we're minding our own business and trying to get through our day without drama, and some phobic idiot thinks he has carte blanche to say and do anything they wish to us.

And that shyt needs to stop.   It will only stop when people are properly prosecuted and sent to jail for doing so.

What 'A Different World' Taught America

A Different World was an amazing, groundbreaking show, which is probably why we are so hard on the people who are allegedly producing shows for the African-American viewing audience now.  

It set the bar high for the types of shows aimed at our community such as the Mara Brock-Akil produced Living Single, which will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its first broadcast on August 29, 2013, the Kelsey Grammer-Akil produced Girlfriends and its spinoff The Game.. 

And yes, when it's time for Living Single's 20th anniversary, I'll have a trivia quiz waiting on you.  You've been warned. 

Sadly some people producing shows for the African-American community have failed to meet that high standard and excel in producing 21st century coonery and buffoonery.

So I had to shine a TransGriot spotlight on a post from the other half of my fave power couple, Danielle Moodie-Mills.   She is also is the creative force behind the threeLOL blog  and wrote a post entitled "Black Excellence and Other Lessons A Different World Taught America'

She was paying attention during our blogger's roundtable at OUT on the Hill when I mentioned the upcoming  'A Different World' Quiz I created.

So what did A Different World teach America?    Plenty.  In addition to giving America a realistic slice of life in terms of our culture and the Black college experience circa late 80's-early 90's, they learned about womanism, South African divestiture, HIV/AIDS, date rape, the LA riots from our perspective, the Gulf War, and got introduced to our past, present and future actors and actresses.  

America also got to see that young African Americans did the same things anyone else did when they went to college.   They studied hard, discussed the issues of the day, learned things about themselves and grew as young adults, fell in love, and prepared to enter that different world beyond college life.

And that's probably why this show is so beloved and important to African-Americans 25 years later and we're hoping that Debbie Allen is successful in reviving it for a new generation.

The Second Annual TransGriot 'A Different World Trivia Quiz-The Answers

Okay TransGriot readers, did you have fun racking your brains trying to find the answers to this year's edition of the TransGriot A Different World Quiz or did you wimp out and wait for me to post the answers?  If you did, shame on you.

Here's the answers to those questions I posted Monday as promised. 

1. Name the artists who sang the theme songs for 'A Different World'.
Phoebe Snow, Aretha Franklin, and Boys II Men

2.What was the name of Whitley and Kim's sorority on the show?
Alpha Delta Rho 

3.What year did Kim pledge under Whitley?
1991

4. What state was Jaleesa from?
New Jersey

5. What was the name of Whitley's therapist who always urged her clients to 'Relax, relate & release? (extra credit point if you can name who played her).
Dr. Langhorne and Debbie Allen played her

6.How long did Kinu and Dwayne date before their break up?
six months

7.True or False. Colonel Taylor was chairman of the math department at Hillman
True

8.What were the nicknames Adele Wayne had for her husband and son Dwayne?
Woodchuck and Chipmunk

9 What was the name of the dream man Dwayne created for his radio shows leading up to Valentine's Day?
Darrell Walker

10. True or False.  Before Ron O'Neal began playing Whitley's father Judge Mercer Gilbert, he played a dean in season one. 
True

11.Who was the Gilbert Hall dorm director in Season 1?
 Stevie Rallen

12.Dwayne spent the summer working as an intern for Kinishewa Electronics in what Canadian cities?
Toronto and Montreal  

13.What city was Lena James from?
A Philadelphia B New York  C Washington DC  D Baltimore

14. True or False.  Whitley won the Miss Hillman title.
False

15.Which one of these is NOT a Hillman college dorm?
A Libbey Hall, B Gilbert Hall, C Douglass Hall, D Height Hall

16. What was the name of Ron Johnson's baby sister?
Rachel, played by Senait Ashenafi

17.True or False.  A Different World was the number one rated show among African-American viewers in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 television seasons.
True

18. What was the name of Walter's charitable foundation that he founded? 
Operation Outreach
 
19.  Which one of these actors or actresses did NOT play a Hillman College professor on the show? 
A Whoopi Goldberg    B. Keenen Ivory Wayans    C. Leslie Uggams   D. Clifton Davis

20  What was the full name of the club that Ron and Mr. Gaines co-owned?
The Place Where The Blues Shall Be Played.

21. What was Terrence's line name when he pledged Kappa Lambda Nu under Ron?
Little Brother No Play

22. What political office was Byron Douglas running for in Virginia? 
state senator

23. What historical event coincided with Whitley and Dwayne's honeymoon?
The 1992 LA riots

24  In addition to his son Terrence, Colonel Taylor had another child who attended Hillman.  Who was she?.
His daughter Suzanne

25  What was Adele Wayne's favorite dessert she loved to cook for Dwayne?
prune cobbler

Now that you've taken the test, how did you do?

0-5     Hillman freshman
6-10   Hillman sophomore
11-14 Hillman junior
15-18 Hillman senior
19-21 Hillman BA
22-23 Hillman Masters
24-25 Hillman PhD

Soledad O'Brien Shuts Down Ignorance Again!

I'm beginning to love my CNN sister Soledad O'Brien again (yep, she's a Black Latina)    She has been on fire lately in terms of calling out and shutting down conservaignorance and stupidity, and now has moved on to calling out the bigots.

I'm not a fan of Joel Osteen and his Lakewood Church, especially after what happened between his wife and one of my former coworkers.   

His Lakewood Church housed now in the former Compaq Center used to promote itself in H-town back in the day as the 'Oasis of Love'.  It's anything but that to trans and SGL people.

He recently showed up on Soledad O'Brien's show to plug his new book and when he made some homophobic comments to go with his book plug, Soledad and her guest Richard Socarides pounced. 

The First 2012 Presidential Debate In One Week

On October 3 the first of three presidential debates will take place on the University of Denver's campus between President Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney 

The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.  The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.

This University of Denver debate will be moderated by Jim Lehrer (and I already vented along with the National Association Of Black Journalists and Univision about the lack of melanin in the Commission on Presidential Debates choices for those moderators and their weak azzed defense of it). 

Yeah, still pissed about the fact there are no POC moderators for these debates and there hasn't been one since Carole Simpson did so 20 years ago.   But even she has commented about how little things have changed in 20 years.

But the best part is that in this UD debate or the two remaining ones Mitt won't be able to lie unchallenged.  This debate will also be occurring on the 20th anniversary of the marriage of the POTUS and FLOTUS (how cool is that?)

Also looking forward to the vice presidential one on October 11 between Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

Already stocking up on the popcorn because this is going to be a make or break moment for the floundering Romney-Ryan campaign.  Either he steps it up or the Obama team can start planning their second inauguration ceremony on January 20 after the national handles its electoral business on November 6 and puts Romney out of his political misery.